Trusting Your Intuition
Think about a time when you said, “I just knew…”. An experience when you had a spontaneous reaction, sometimes triggered by a thought, a feeling, or a sensation. Or a moment when didn’t have all the facts and information, but had a very strong hunch there would be a specific outcome? Or a time when you experienced an “A-ha” moment, or a “light bulb” moment, when out of seemingly nowhere a brilliant idea popped into your head—the perfect solution to your problem? Maybe you heard a voice or felt a tug to change lanes, move away from a car on the highway or change your speed and watched as you narrowly missed being in an accident?
Those, and so many others, are examples of inner knowing. The Cambridge Dictionary defines our intuition as our “ability to understand something immediately without the need for conscious reasoning.”, or “based on your feelings rather than facts”.
Sometimes your intuition gives you feedback about making a decision or a choice, changing a behavior, or taking an action in the moment (like sending up a red flag of warning). Sometimes your intuition gives you a sense of “YES! I totally should do that!”, a moment of enthusiasm and certainty.
Our intuition is also called our inner voice, inner wisdom, inner seeing, inner knowing, instinct, gut sense or sixth sense. You may receive intuition or intuitive hits through a variety of nudges. We can receive intuitive messages through our knowing, feeling (either physical sensations or emotions), hearing, and even smelling.
Intuition is a “factory setting”, so to speak, for all humans. Intuition is with us from the start of our lives. It is there to keep us safe and satisfied.
However, we can disconnect from our intuition when people in our lives give us negative feedback about the awareness we share with others. There can be cultural, religious, societal, and familial messages that emphasize; we do not know enough or are too young, are not smart enough or savvy enough, we are misinterpreting our intuition, or we must defer to guru’s, leaders, or others in positions of authority for guiding messages. Situations can cause us to begin to disconnect from our intuition when we feel like we don’t belong or don’t want to stand out as “different”. We can experience a sense of fear for punishment, ostracizing, and rejection for following our intuition. We begin to disconnect and detach from our intuition.
When disconnection and detachment from our intuition occurs; difficulties arise:
Decision making feels like a struggle.
We begin to second guess ourselves or feel unclear on which path to take or choice to make.
We can feel alone and isolated in making choices or decisions for ourselves.
We defer to others for decision making, creating stress in relationships.
Self-esteem can be impacted.
But we can return to trusting our intuition, strengthening our intuitive “muscle”. When we are connected and present with our intuition; we can:
Experience clarity and confidence in our choices.
Easily recognize where we can safely find support and connection.
Quiet fears, self-doubt, worries, and other insecurities that challenge or damage our self-esteem.
Deepen our relationship with ourselves; confidently and fully step into our personal power.
Feel rooted in who we are, and certain in choosing our ideal path.
Here are 3 steps to start increasing your intuition:
1) Be open.
I hear two things consistently; “I don’t receive intuition (or don’t have a gut sense)” or “I’m not sure how to tap into my intuition”. Luckily, we ALL have the internal guidance system of intuition AND tapping into your intuition is easier than you may think.
No matter where you are on your personal growth or spiritual journey, you can not only access your intuition, but you can increase your ability to tap into your intuition and receive powerful, supportive messages from your intuition.
Tips for practice:
Change your story about what you tell yourself about your ability to make supportive and clear choices or decisions for yourself.
Start reframing any negative message that you do not have intuitive guidance, or you cannot recognize intuitive messages.
Use an affirming statement, such as, “I am learning to tap into my intuition” or “I am increasing the ease of recognizing my intuition”. “I am learning to trust myself” or “As I trust myself, my intuition is becoming clearer”.
Check in with yourself. What answer or guidance do you think you are receiving? Take notes so you can go back and check to see if your intuition was correct in different situations.
The more we anticipate that we will receive intuitive guidance and the more we consult our inner guidance, the more messages we will receive and the clearer they will become. Your subconscious mind will recognize to seek out those patterns and messages and bring your conscious mind to attend to or recognize those patterns and messages.
2) Notice & practice increasing your awareness (of all of you).
This is going to be Wash, Rinse, Repeat. Notice, notice, notice. Practice, practice, practice. Repeat both.
When we begin to notice and practice increasing our awareness of what is happening within our physical bodies, we can easily distinguish between ourselves, and others and we can easily understand the messages from self.
Start by noticing your bodily sensations (please note, if you have experienced significant trauma in your life or have some OCD tendency around your body or sensations—please start this one with a therapist who can help safely guide you to feel safe in your body).
What do you feel? Where do you feel it? Why is the sensation showing up for you now? What words would you use to you describe it?
Next, begin noticing your emotions. Identify your emotions by name. If you only have happy, sad, or angry as emotional states in your vocabulary, take some time to explore the range of emotions you actually have experienced (or have witnessed in other people) and the names for the other emotions.
What is your emotional state? What influenced this emotion? What else comes up for you related to this emotion or emotional state?
Now, notice your thoughts. What types of thoughts pop up for you? Is there a steady stream of consciousness or does worry (or fear-based) or intrusive thoughts interrupt your day-to-day activities. Do you find your thoughts helpful or unhelpful?
Tips for practice:
Meditation. When you begin to meditate consistently, you begin to notice you are not your thoughts and that you have a higher level of consciousness. This makes it easier for you to discern from the mundane or intrusive thoughts that pop up versus your intuitive thoughts and senses.
Notice some more. When you have the awareness of a possible intuitive thought—pause--and see if you are able to self-reflect on the intuition message. What makes you think it is an intuitive nudge?
Journaling. Begin journaling your hunches and journal on your dreams. You will begin to discern if your intuition as patterns are revealed. On a side note, there is so much data in your dreams. It can reveal stress, worry and anxiety. It can reveal what our mind is still trying to work out solutions or trouble shoot for us. It can also be a treasure trove of receiving messages from our higher self and our guides.
3) Trust. Let it go. Be ready to act.
Trust and let it go can be thought of as “set it and forget”. When we release how the messages “should” come through us and to us, we build up the trust muscle that we will know, when we know.
But also, have you ever heard the phrase, “A watched pot never boils”? When we stay overly focused and put nervous energy into the waiting…we end up getting frustrated and inpatient, and most likely, make the wait longer.
When it does feel like an intuitive nudge, be ready to act. If you are still struggling with trusting your gut, ask for guidance from your highest self or even a spirit or Nature guide.
Tips for practice:
Trusting building. Remember your answer may come softly. Intuition can be very subtle. And not always on your timing. To keep building up that trust muscle, practice trusting that you will hear, sense, know or feel the answers you are seeking. Another way to build up the trust muscle is to get creative with tools to increase your trust in your intuition. Practice using a pendulum or buy an oracle card that interests you.
When you notice a physical response to an experience or conversation, check in with your body (and intuition). Note the response and stay curious about why that response was showing up in that moment.
If you are struggling with self-judgement and criticism making it difficult to trust yourself, see how you can soften this habit. Remind yourself that like every new skill, it takes time and consistency. When you notice self-judgement or criticism pop up, challenge the thought—is this true? Do I have data to support this is true? Does this “tough love” help me on my journey or create more tension?
Release the self-judgement and criticism and flex the trust muscle is by allowing yourself to be led by your heart instead of your mind/thoughts (especially the fear-based thoughts!). When you are moving through your day from a place of love, compassion and care it will be easy for your intuition to shine.
Wishing you the best on increasing your intuition!
Mary
P.S. if you are still struggling with receiving intuitive messages or trusting our inner wisdom, listen to my FREE guided meditation on Trusting Wisdom on my YouTube channel. And if you would like more tips and information, sign up for my newsletter!
